Do Time Stamps On Email Messages Matter Anymore?

[Olalah Njenga, Speaker & Author]

I've been wondering how other business professionals feel about responding to emails in the middle of the night or at the crack of dawn. For example, most of us don't think much of getting an email from a friend or colleague if it's 11:30pm. But what if you are responding to a client at 11:30pm and the client responds back within minutes?

Does sending and receiving email messages to clients and prospects give the impression that you are available, regardless of the time of day? Have integrated devices (like Blackberries and Palms) given the impression (or the illusion) that it's OK for anyone to reach out and touch us about business, even if it's way past business hours?

I had an uncomfortable incident with a client with offices on 2 continents. It started with after hours phone calls to my private line. I don't mean 7pm, I mean like 10pm. So I addressed the issue politely and all was fine. Then the strategy changed to emails at all times of the night. Once I responded to one email, little did I know I was opening the mobile floodgates. Again, the issue was addressed and resolved. He explained that the way he works was irrespective of time and that he seldom thought about the time of day because his company was his whole life.

Is it me? Your whole life? Hummm, that's another discussion for another time.

But I'm curious for some feedback on this one. Are we now wired to be "always on" because we now work without wires to "turn us off"?

[Leslie Flowers, Change Agent]

Thank you for the question, Olalah. I would assert you are not alone in this dilemma!

While some clients (or friends ;) may feel they can reach out to you at any time because technology removes time and distance, it does not work for me.

Do you think establishing a clearly defined business hour policy would make a difference here? Like doors open at 8 am and close at 7 pm (EST)?
Even though others could still email you or leave you phone messages, would it work if you held yourself firm to only checking and responding to email, answering phone, or checking messages during your designed business hours?
Do you think your clients would understand?

Perhaps this is a place to begin. Thoughts?

[Olalah Njenga, Speaker & Author]

This has been a very interesting discussion to watch. When I originally posted the question, it was prompted by the fact that my window of availability is becoming smaller and smaller - by choice.

For almost 2 years I've not worked on Fridays. I have a very full plate and I use Fridays to make my personal life make some sense. I'm saying "no" to many things so that I can say "yes" to other things that are in tandem with what's important to me at this time in my life.

I believe technology has made life more dynamic, yet more complicated -- making boundaries harder to see and even harder to enforce.

Thanks for keeping the conversation flowing.

[Kelly Welch]

I look at this phenomenon as very enabling for those folks who may need to do things in the middle of the day (catch child's first performance in school daytime recital), and need to leave work during 'regular hours' and can catch up in the evening. I no longer do 'delayed send' on my email to send out at 7am when I really wrote it at 2am and did not want to give the impression of working too hard or not having a life outside of work. Now, I think most people work at some point after regular business hours.

At this point, this pc technology has blurred the lines between work and other life, as well as time zones, and it's up to us to set our own boundaries. However, social etiquette should tell a person not to phone a colleague or client's home phone number at 10pm, unless mitigating circumstances had been agreed upon. They should use a cell number, where the recipient has the opportunity to simply let voice mail take the call. And if this is a global business relationship, it's up to all parties to pay attention to what time it is where they are phoning.

[Pat Howlett]

Great topic. (sorry for long reply)

I also have clients all over the US in every time zone. So I've found that 'business hours' depended on where the originator of the email is (not my local time). In order to address this, get efficient and set the right expectation I wanted - I set up an auto responder on my email as follows (it only goes out once to that particular person within a 24 hour period);
--------------
Hello Valued Client (or Friend),

Due to the high workload, I am currently checking and responding to e-mail 4 specific times during the day (EST).

- 7:00 am
- 1:00 pm
- 4:00 pm
- 8:00 pm

Thank you for understanding my move to more efficiency and effectiveness.

This helps me accomplish more to serve you better.

Kind regards,

Pat Howlett
--------------------
Of course your message would speak to the expectation you want to set. I only receive compliments on this.

Now, I DO send email replies at other times 'convenient to me' and so ended up with the ‘chat room session’ effect rather than an email reply at times, but it is rare.

So, for this specific client (experience) I simply add another strategy – I go ahead and reply to their email when convenient to me… but ‘Save it’ as a ‘Draft’ so it does not get sent out. Then during one of the times I’ve provided in my auto responder – I simply send them the message – training them on my set schedule.

I’ve done this for several years now without an issue. Actually folks like it.

There is a real reason why people do this though...

My experience was that when using email the other side really does need/want to know that they are ‘going to get an answer’ and it will be ‘timely’. Keep in mind we’ve all experienced the opposite problem more often… where we send someone an email on something we’re ‘actively’ working on and it seems like they fell off the face of the earth – no reply at all, so we’re left with the ‘did it get there’, ‘did it end up as spam’, ‘should I resend’ etc.

Now with a known protocol in place I’ve had clients who will email or call me (during business hours) and ask permission to elevate a projects communication outside this scope -- and have agreed. I specifically share that once that project is completed we will of course return to the normal protocol so they again know the expectation. Most see this as an 'above and beyond' moment and I look good – turning a negative into a positive service experience.

‘Setting’, ‘Outlining’ and then ‘Sticking to’ reasonable expectations to me is key.

Hope this helps.

[Debby Bruck]

Pat is so wise. Learn from his experience.

[James Karl]

We now live in a 24/7/365 world and can always be on. If we want. It is up to each of us to not allow e-mail or time to control our lives. It is up to each person to open an e-mail when we wish and respond when we want in our time.

I work with clients world wide and when I need information I don't care what time it is here or there. But I understand that they control their time.

I just try not to let phone calls, e-mails or time control my life. I enjoy life now a lot better then the days I was waiting for the US Postal Service to get me a letter.

James

James

[Ina Stanley]

I think that the time stamps can matter in terms of client education. If you want your clients to understand that you operate during a certain time of day, your communications with them need to reflect that. If you're responding and communicating at all times of night, they will begin to expect that of you and possibly even try to initiate communication with you at awkward or unwanted times. To prevent these issues you could do something similar to what Pat has done, by setting up an auto-responder during the times that you cannot respond to emails and making clients aware of the times when they can expect a response.

I think that Blackberries and other mobile devices have given the "always open" impression to potential and current clients. What I have suggested to friends and clients is to only send responses or messages from such devices during a time when you can get back to your clients immediately. Perhaps block out an hour or two when you are readily available. Otherwise, only respond from such devices in the case of emergencies or scheduled appointments.

With all the technology we have today, it's necessary to educate our clients on our preferred method of communication, hour operating hours and rules of communication just as you would educate them on your products and services.

As a side note, I wouldn't recommend removing time stamps if you find that you have the ability to. The reason is because time stamps can help in situations where there may have been miscommunication. You can keep track of when and how often you've communicated with clients in case there is a dispute in delivery of a product or service. So be mindful not to cause another problem by eliminating the first!

[Marge Carter]

I feel that if someone ask you to call them after hours is ok, but permission is granted frist.
Always on! No there should be a time and place for everything.

[Phoenix delaMer Rector]

Olalah,

What a wonderful question. Pat seems to have addressed in in the most clear and functional form.

Technology not only seems to give permission to others to contact us on their free time, but also gives us the impression that we simply MUST answer IMMEDIATELY. Not so. Your time is your own. Give yourself permission to answer when you can, whether it is 2am or 12pm. There are nights I cannot sleep and if an inquiry comes in, I answer it without thought to the hour. Phone calls though - never make a call before 8am and never after 8pm, (although text messaging seems to give a wee bit more freedom).

Clearly defining business hours or giving yourself permission to wait... go with what works for your schedule, business and family needs. :)

Warmly,
Phoenix

[Olalah Njenga, Speaker & Author]

Phoenix, thanks for your feedback. You bring up a VERY good point, so what about texting? Texting used to be a short, informal type of communication between friends and family. Now it's being leveraged as a business communication protocol. A business associate got my private mobile number and started sending me text messages. The messages didn't even end with the typical closing "Regards, x", the messages just ended. My visceral response "Who is this person?" My next thought "Are you kidding me?".

So, does texting count like a phone call or like an email? Does texting have it's own set of "always on" challenges?

I'm open for feedback . . .

[Leslie Flowers, Change Agent]

For me, texting is just the same as phone or email. Someone is reaching out to me. Good manners should prevail no matter what the method for communications. For example, on weekends, I respond to email when I choose to. Sometimes I don't even look at my computer on Saturday and Sunday. And you know what? The messages are still there when I choose to respond : )

[Karen Tiede]

You might consider nipping that in the bud by saying, "I'm sorry, I don't check that phone number during the day," or "I keep that number for emergencies only" or whatever might work best with your client. The messages are shorter than normal because of the difficult data entry / thumbs-only keyboard problem; I used to see something similar from a manager who couldn't touch-type. He never used an extra word in an email if he could avoid it--no please, thank you, etc. But he was a nice enough guy over the phone.

Re the priority of texting, you might consider your feelings when the clerk in a store takes a phone call, albeit business-related, while you wait at the counter. I lean to thinking that the real-live in-person customer with a credit card is a higher priority than the phone call. Perhaps the business management sets different priorities for their staff.

You could always claim you were driving at the time the message arrived.